DISTILLING THE STATE OF MARKETING 2020

Hubspot just released a comprehensive “State of Marketing 2020” white paper that I found quite useful.

While this is not a paid endorsement by any means, I have come to trust and rely on them for marketing intelligence and best practices.

Therefore - for the benefit of my clients and network - I have assembled a top-line distillation of the insights and analytics from that report - an executive summary addressing the common branding and marketing questions clients are facing and asking about in daily practice.

So while the following research and analytics are from Hubspot, comments will be from me.

EMAIL

Contrary to what you may think, people prefer to connect with brands via email. So it remains an important channel for business, especially DTC brands. Additionally, marketers see $42 ROI on every $1 spent.

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WEBSITE

Personally, I prefer to build sites in Squarespace as they are the Apple to the Wordpress PC in terms of user friendliness. Additionally, I like website rehab projects as it focuses and forces the bigger questions to get answered like “who are we?”; “what exactly do we do?”; “why do we do that?”; and “who is/are our audience(s)?”. All critical questions to ask before even busting out a wireframe.

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SEO

Think about how you personally use search. Chances are it’s similar in how most people do – you’re looking for answer. Look at your brand’s site to provide relevant answers people have about the category your brand occupies. And as always, have a user/customer/human centrered mindset.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

Guess what? The Russians and Brands like to use Facebook! No surprises, here as it’s truly our mass media now – and FB provides best ROI out of all the social  platforms. Also, I wouldn’t fret if you’re not on TikTok yet, as it didn’t even crack into the top 10 platforms. 

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“CONTENT” MARKETING

”Content” marketing may be one of the most over-used and vague terms in the industry. So it seems best to just say “promotional videos for Facebook”. The challenge my clients face is, even with the simplest of videos, the amount of time, talent and money it takes to produce a short video with a disposal shelf-life that is worth a users/viewers/customers time and interest – and what is the impact on business?

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PAID/DIGITAL ADVERTISING

The old quote: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, the problem is I don’t know which half” still seems to ring true now as much as it did in 1920 when John Wanamaker supposedly said it. While paid digital has lost trust from many industry experts, it’s obviously where the eyeballs are. 

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3 TAKE-AWAYS

1. Remember that your website is your first owned channel – make sure it’s mobile, that the pages load fast and it addresses and answers what your primary audiences are looking for.

2. Generating engaging content is high maintenance. You need the strategy, the calendar, the purpose, the cadence, and the appropriate call to action to make it work effectively.

3. Focus on fewer platforms and more purpose. Build and integrate your owned-media ecosystem, grow an audience and engage them with strategic content that fosters relevance and affinity (you can’t make a transaction before you get a reaction!).

SOURCE MATERIAL

 
 
Dan Fietsam